what would you do?

Monday, March 12, 2007

Okay fellow bloggers, just curious as to what you would do in this certain situation. I made a pair of fingerless gloves for my hair stylist for a Christmas gift. He adored them and told me that he wore them everyday. A short while ago, I received a phone call from him explaining how devastated he was that he lost one. Is there anyway I could make him another pair? "Of course, not a problem!" Then while talking to some friends, the question arose, "how much are you going to charge him?" Hmmm, I didn't think of that, but it would be nice to make a little money. So, let me know what you would do.

A. Don't charge him. It is not like you have anything better to do. The dust on that table can always wait.B. Don't charge him. You should replace this gift out of the goodness of your heart.C. Charge him $25. $8 for the yarn, $17 for labor. Your time is valuable and he doesn't give you his services for free. It is not like you lost his glove. You actually pay him quite a bit and tip generously and in the 7 years he has been servicing you he has never even given a free blow dry. (not that you ever even expect it)D. Ask him to take $25 off the price of your next haircut.E. Tell him to have a Starbucks waiting for you the next time you come in for a cut.

I am very curious to hear from you. Thank you! :) I plan on delivering those to him tomorrow. Let me know if you want the pattern. I promise, I won't charge you! :)

Over the weekend I finished this hat for a friend who recently had a baby. I think these Debby Ware Hats are too cute. They are either sold as a kit, or you can buy just the pattern and use some of your stash. I just love those curly Q's.

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comments

I think Anonymous has a very good idea. Since you didn't say upfront that you would want to be compensated--and he didn't offer--it would be odd to ask for money now. Although I think it's odd that he asked you to replace a gift he lost. If you gave him a book for Xmas and he lost it, would he ask you to buy him another?

Very tough call! It would be nice to be compensated for the yarn at least but I would not be able to ask for money. Personally I would hand them over as a gift and be done with it. Though I would make it clear that if the second pair went missing, I would be teaching him to knit his own. The hat is really cute!!!

I agree with anonymous and Jessica: this is the perfect tip! Just make sure you say that... It would be hard to ask for $25 off your next appointment because he may not be able to fudge the sales slip. And it's difficult for you now to demand money if the subject has never come up!

stuff like this happens to me all the time! i hate it when it happens too.

i would give him the gloves and wait to see what he says. if he says nothing, consider them his tip for the day. if he offers to compensate you (which he really should), charge him the $25. give him the option of paying you or taking it off your tab. and remember next time someone asks you to make them something, quote them a price before you get started. (this is a reminder for me, too, since i am in the middle of making pillows out of someone else's needlepoint!)

i think option a is what i would be most comfortable with. it is just me, i never feel comfortable having that moment of asking someone for money...and i think if you put good deeds out there in the world they will come back to you. that hat is terribly cute by the way!

Umm, I'm going to be the voice of dissent here a little. I think it is totally presumtuous, to ask someone to remake a gift and not expect to pay. So either give this as his tip, or tell him you want starbucks waiting and give it as his tip as well. I love my hairdresser to death, but if he did that to me, I hope he would at least ask to compensate me. You are making him money - without you, (or a lot of you's) he is without a job. And you would have a hard time purchasing a decent pair of fingerless gloves for $25 - and certainly not a nice, made with care hand knit pair!! So stand up for yourself -- which is much easier to say then to do, but you will feel better in the end! Good Luck! Let us know what you decide to do!!

I'd say go with the Starbucks choice--that way you honor the gift giving bit, and he gets the message that you're not a knitting machine (OK, maybe you are, but he doesn't have to know) so he'd better not lose one again!

Second, I would err on the side of caution and keep it friendly with option D -- the coffee. Maybe allude to the fact that the next pair is going to cost him. Realistically, if you have had as much trouble as I had finding a hairstylist who knows you hair and knows how to cut it, it would be bad kharma to sour that relationship.

So, to sum it all up, keep your stylist happy and have great hair.

You could sell your work too, so work him for some people you could make money on. They know everyone!

I like the idea of saying "here you go, know if you loose these I am going to have to teach you to knit your own pair & by the way if anybody raves about them i sell these for $25/pr"Who knows his sister or somebody he knows could of liked them & he was like "oh here take them I will just have her knit me another pair"OH & don't tip him. I'm awful.

What feels right to you? I am always shy about these things so I would probably just give them to him but I like the suggestion that he should do something in return - coffee, gift certificate, discount on your haircut. It would be hard for me to ask for money.

Yes, hand them to him as his tip. My first reaction was knit only the one that's missing/ lost, but then maybe you no longer have the same yarn left. I'd love the pattern if you're willing to part with it. What yarn did you use?

That would be hard for me to decide! I am sort of a pushover and do whatever I can to make people happy without expecting anything in return. Good things seem to come to those who do good things for others. Knitting takes a while though (for me anyway), and yarn is expensive. I just read some comments, and I love the idea of using it for his tip...you'll have to keep us posted on what you decide!

My cranio sacral healing friend does swaps with her stylist - she treats him and he does her hair. It's worked well for years. Maybe you could drop that into the conversation. I'm the wrong person to ask though, I cut my own hair!! ( see Flikr for proof ). Whatever you choose, just remembember to value your time, talent and money, whether you give the gloves as a tip a gift or a swap. And a pattern for me, please...

Well, you've already told him you'd make him a replacement so I'd say that you can't expect any compensation from him this time. I'm assuming you still want to see him . . so maybe you can somehow tell him that if he loses another, it will cost him. But telling him that he would have to pay after you've already told him it would be no problem . . I don't think that would be appropriate.

I would probably jokingly tell him a Starbucks could be waiting next time - that way he could do that if he were so inclined but not feel obligated - and no one feels weird. And then depending on his actions - that will decide whether he gets a pair next Christmas!:)

I think the answer would have to be "B" and then leave less of a tip than normal. While - depending on your relationship wiht your stylist and how friendly you are - it may have been presumptuous of him to ask, you didn't have to say yes, so charging money now feels weird.

I'd say do B or...what's the last one...E? If you have a friendly relationship with him, enough to have made him gloves in the first place, you don't want to make it awkward. If he ever does something like it again, I'd certainly take a different tack then.

p.s. I personally think you should be direct if you want payment, rather than passively mentioning that you also...ahem...sell you work. He might just feel guilty and unsure of what you really want.

Somehow this reminds me of a client of mine who has said a number of times, "You get paid more than I do." Finally, I had to ask her what she wanted...a discount?. It cleared it up right away! (and with no discount offered on my point, I mean jeez.)